(Surprise! Wow, look at that hiatus. I feel like I owe you guys some sort of explanation as to why this keeps happening. Basically, I am an actress, that is my profession. No, I'm not a famous one or even a mildly successful one. I have two day jobs to keep me going financially in between plays and films and those keep me busy enough. So when I get cast in something it leaves little time in between to write, hence the hiatuses. I am really sorry that this keeps happening, its never my intention to leave people hanging. I recently saw the Broadway production of Wicked for the 5th time a few weeks ago [hay hay two time lottery winner] and it always reminds me why I love writing these silly fanfics and reminds me why I chose to pursue a career in the arts in the first place. #castmeasglindagoddammit.)

~Oz SIX zO~

Their feet smashed into the ground as they ran, fallen leaves crunching beneath their toes. Elphaba's legs were trembling from the distance she had traversed; they had probably run a few miles deeper into the forest by now. The arrow that Fiyero had fired stuck out of the beast at a sharp angle, doing nothing to slow it down. Another arrow whizzed by but missed the wildcat by quite a few inches.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" He snapped as his next arrow hit a tree, "I can't do this while I'm running!"

"So stop, you're making it angrier!"

Ahead of them Elphaba could see a great oak tree with a sturdy base, had to be at least a few hundred years old. Branches hung low enough that she decided she could grab one and hoist herself up to a safe height. Good timing, too, her legs were ready to give out.

She heard a great roar as the animal gained on them and took it as her cue to leap. She caught a branch with her twiggy arms and pushed up. She wrapped her legs around the limb and steadied herself, the beast a short distance away. Her branch was still too low; it could snatch her if it tried. Beneath the tree her companion was attempting to crawl up the same branch. He slipped down and his toes grazed the grass. Despite herself, she reached a hand toward him and took his forearm. She yanked him up with the same surprising strength that had tackled him down not too long ago.

The animal was upon them now. Its claws reached up and scratched at the branch and their ankles but they managed their way to a higher branch and out of its range. Elphaba let out a howl of relief and collapsed against the trunk as the thing that chased them growled and circled their perch.

Fiyero caught his breath and stared down at the forest floor where his quiver of arrows had fallen during his climb, "Wonderful. I've nothing to kill that thing with."

"So let it be, it will go to sleep or get bored soon."

"How soon is soon?" He asked, still staring at the fallen weaponry.

"Give it a few hours." Her eyes rolled at his impatience.

He was appalled at that answer, his mouth gaped and his brows furrowed in a way that suggested that he wasn't used to not getting his way, "So we're stuck in this tree together for a while?"

"Unless I push you off of it."

He smirked, "I don't think you can beat me twice."

They passed an hour or so in silence after that. Elphaba took to staring out at the tree line; the dark canopies that surrounded them were thick with dark and dying leaves. It seemed that everything in this forest had died since the Witch arrived. She began thinking of her father then; the way she had spied on his first exchange with the witch and refused her demands. Refused to comply with the Wizard. She remembered the way his life had been sapped from him with nothing more than a flick of the woman's wrist in front of the entire city.

"Hey, you." She heard Fiyero speak softly for the first time since they'd met.

She turned to him with a scowl and met his eye; he turned his gaze away from her as though he was saying something difficult, "Thank you for pulling me up the tree."

Elphaba deepened her scowl, "I don't enjoy watching people die, no matter how rude they are."

He chuckled at that, "Alright, the pear incident was a little rough. I'm not used to being hungry."

"You seemed pretty comfortable with threatening an unarmed woman."

"Well I'm not used to the word no, either."

Elphaba studied him for a moment, arms still crossed, "I don't get what sort of hunter you are."

He smiled at her, "You don't know who I am, do you? This is a new experience for me, you're a rare breed."

Her head cocked, "I'm confused, am I supposed to know who you are?"

"Most young women have at least heard of me."

She gave an indifferent shrug and went back to studying the trees. To him she made an etheric sight though she had no way of knowing that. The rag wound around her head had fallen in their chase, leaving her tangled black hair to curl around her sharp face. She was covered in grime and her cheeks were still flushed from the run but it did nothing to make her less enchanting. There was something inhuman about her; something otherworldly that had caught his attention. He said none of this, of course. He kept silent and shook it off as nothing but being shocked at her skin.

The sky crackled above them suddenly. Elphaba's head shot up to stare through the thicket of trees where the clouds began to darken. She let out a groan, "Oh Ozma, I don't know what I did to deserve a day like this."

Another crackle of lightning followed closely by a boom of thunder and the rain began to drop. Slowly at first, it dripped through the canopy of leaves and began to hit the pair on the head. Fiyero groaned in discomfort, too. He watched her wince as the droplets hit her bare arms and a small spark of chivalry lit up inside him.

"Take my hunting jacket," He offered it to her, nudging it closer when she tried to ignore it, "I insist. You've barely got anything on."

She scowled again but begrudgingly snatched it from his hand and wound it about her shoulders just as the rain began to pour heavily. The hood fit snugly over her damp head and she shivered gratefully.

"Thank you." She said in as bitter a tone as she could muster.

He frowned and bit at his lip as the rain drenched his skin and the white cotton shirt he wore, "It's the least I could do."

She huddled as close as she could into the jacket; it fit a good portion of her lithe frame even if her legs stuck out a little. She was grateful for the shelter and grateful for the boy who had offered it to her. Despite herself, she had found a small comfort in the jacket of a very rude man.

~oz SIX zo~